The Wall Street Journal-20080206-Accounting Students Can Still Count on Jobs

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Accounting Students Can Still Count on Jobs

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While U.S. markets are getting squeezed, talk of recession continues, and Wall Street firms hand out pink slips by the hundreds, accounting firms are expected to buck the trend.

The Big Four accounting firms plan to hire roughly the same number -- or more -- of interns and entry-level employees for 2008 as they did last year. According to the National Association of Colleges and Employers's 2008 job-outlook survey, accounting is the No. 1 bachelor's degree in demand by employers.

Fortunately, the number of undergraduate and graduate-level accounting majors keeps rising for these firms -- PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, Ernst & Young LLP, KPMG LLP and Deloitte & Touche LLP.

"It's often the case that accounting hiring is countercyclical to the strength of the economy," said Ira Solomon, head of the department of accountancy at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

"It's not the case that as the economy goes down, the demand for accountants goes down," he said. At Mr. Solomon's school, ranked second among college-accounting programs by U.S. News & World Report, the number of undergraduate and graduate accounting students rose 27% in the past two years to 653 students.

"Whether firms are prospering or in distress, they must file reports, such as financial and tax," said Stephen T. Limberg, director of the professional accounting master's program at the University of Texas at Austin, which won U.S. News & World Report's top ranking for accounting programs. In 2007, the university had 310 undergraduate- and graduate-level accounting students, up 15% from five years ago.

The firms and top colleges cited the need to retain interns for future leadership positions, growing tax and consulting practices, and increased demand for students with global knowledge as some reasons for the growth in hiring. The Bureau of Labor Statistics in December projected an 18% increase in employment growth for accountants and auditors from 2006-16.

All the firms said interns are vital to their success.

"Interns are your best channel to filling your full-time positions," said Diane Borhani, Deloitte & Touche's U.S. campus-recruiting leader.

"The way the labor market is, with the [baby] boomers retiring, it's imperative companies hire. By 2010 we think that half our work force is going to be by Generation Y," said Dan Black, director of campus recruiting at Ernst & Young.

Accounting scandals at Enron Corp., Tyco International Ltd., Adelphia Communications Corp. and WorldCom Inc. earlier this decade paved the way for new regulatory reforms such as the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, which tightens accounting and disclosure requirements for companies listed on U.S. exchanges. Firms are under greater scrutiny to be clearer with financial statements, audits and tax reports, and "quality reporting is as, if not more, important during periods of distress and uncertainty," Mr. Limberg said.

As a result, each of the firms cited their tax practice as one of the fastest-growing areas in the business, since the new rules place more demands on tax departments. According to Mr. Black, the firm expects to hire 1,100 employees for its tax division, up from 350 five years ago.

Amy Thompson, director of campus recruiting for PricewaterhouseCoopers, agreed, saying her firm has seen an uptick in tax hiring. "With the refinement of regulations, it's allowed for tax practices to improve," she said.

The firms also said their advisory/consulting areas are also hot among interns and new hires. This includes advising companies on crisis management, performance improvement, governance, risk and compliance, and financial or technological effectiveness.

"These may be nontraditional areas when you think of accounting, but the skills you gain are very applicable," Mr. Black said.

Ms. Borhani said she expects Deloitte & Touche's consulting practice to grow the most. "We're going to meet our hiring goals this year," she said. "But we don't want to relax because the market is very challenging, and we're continuing to do more to meet demands of the consulting practice because there are very high standards for the types of people we hire."